I find that far too often, people who don't really know anything about a topic still hold strong opinions. Personally, I think it is wise to leave engineering to engineers. They can be pretty knowledgeably about things like three-point vs two-point stability, and understand why a Bombardier Can-Am is as stable as it is.

I also wonder about those folks who have repeatedly written on SC that self-balancing two-wheelers are the wave of the future, that the existing I2 / X2 is pretty much perfect, and who reacted negatively when others started conjecturing (in the past) about possible features for an I3. How does one improve on perfection? Will Dean Kamen purists react negatively if the new Seg is a variation on a T3?

Important Questions: Does Segway now have a marketing department? Did they do the appropriate market research? Are they now the force in the company that is driving the development of this product? What market is the new Seg intended to serve. What is the size of that market, and how does the new product compare to the competition in that market?

I am really hoping that three-wheeled thingie is part of a range of new products, which would include a smaller, lighter, lower-cost two-wheeled I3 with NiMH batteries.

interesting video Bob. I did not understand what he was saying, however.

I did not see it move much. I did see a small wheel under the foot bar, making 3 that I noticed. I wonder about it's drive/stop characteristics.

I also noticed a track driven snow board (I am guessing it was a snow board or snow shoe of some sort.) I would have enjoyed it more if I understood his comments. Did anyone else have this problem?

Kind of reminds me of that orange motorcycle that looked to have one wheel, but actually had two right next to each other in the center. Lots of video, lots of speculation, very little video of it actually working. Looked cool however.

yeah..I know. By the end of the video I was disappointed enough from their lack of action of leaning. Maybe they only know how to sit on a Segway wnnabe but have not learned how to glide yet, <grin>. I did find the addition of the caster type
wheels and design interesting enough to post.

be safe
enjoy your glide...

Bob Yarbrough
the PONY SEAT guy

Thanks, Bob. That is sort of what I've been talking about with a third wheel being a caster or outrigger.

It's SE Asia, most likely Thailand. Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia languages sound much more "sing-song". I think I've seen the script before as Thai, too.

You misunderstand. I didn't say the third wheel would be used for steering. I said it would be actively steered, so it is pointing the correct way, consistent with the differential drive of the drive wheels. Thus it would reinforce, not subtract from, the steering. So, for example, if one of the drive wheels loses traction, the third wheel would contribute steering force, not provide force in whatever direction it was castored at the moment, which might have been due to a bump or something.

Perhaps the way to think of it is active castoring, rather than relying on drag from an offset pivot.

Or like coordinating the tail of an aircraft during a turn.

How would having a third wheel help in stability in faster speed if you lean forward to go faster, which would lift up the rear wheel off the ground. Then it would serve no purpose. The HT, I2, X2 has great stability in slow speeds. Therefore the third wheel would have to be used in front for stability in faster speeds. If they are wanting to go after T3's share of the Police or Security market they would need the Segway to go faster than it does. So thats why I'm thinking it has to be a drop down wheel in the front, perhaps gravity feed, pendilum style. It would also have to be a castor type wheel that turns beacaus the turning as it is is controlled by increasing or decreasing the speed of one wheel. It will most likely fall forward at a certain rate of speed with a horizontal stabilizer that would lock in down. Probably with a curvature in it. Thats my thinking on it. I also think it will be called an I3.

Oh, it may be quite possible the base will slide in a forward curve upward so that when it speeds up your center of gravity will slide forward on the base as the Segway's base tilts forward. Just a guess.

Stability in my opinion relates to the Seg in shut down mode or stopped position allowing for solid 3 point parking, safety in an emergency shutdown mode, and a stabile machine when mounting or dismounting. Ideal for equipment laden patrol officers and wannabe Segway owners with balance issues.

I believe this would work in a plane or a boat, but not so much in a device that has hard contact with the ground.

With a boat or plane, you can 'skid' at an angle, or fly (or drive) with the nose pointing one way, and the vehicle going a slightly different way.

It is easy to illustrate this, but hard to describe it. If you are in a plane, and you are facing north, and want to fly north, but there is a strong wind from the west, you will not actually go north, but north and east. If you point the nose of the plane a bit to the west, so you are pointing pretty much north west, you will then travel north, if seen from the ground.

This is one of the reasons you can steer a plane both with the rudder on the tail, and by tilting the plane a bit, (wing over wing) and other things. It is because you are not in hard contact.

When a plane lands, and transitions from being in the air to being on the wheels, there is a distinct difference in how the machine moves in a cross wind.

The easiest way to illustrate this with words that I can think of for a wheeled vehicle would be to have people think of a car that is drifting around a corner. In that circumstance, the car may be pointing one direction, and moving another direction, and still under relative control. (Unlike a skid on ice, where the same may be happening, but not under nearly as much control) If there is some sort of steering assistance from a 3rd wheel either fore or aft, or active steering coordination, you would also have to have some sort of differential on all the wheels, in the way that all wheel drive vehicles have a differential for each wheel. Can a segway still function as we know it does with a differential on the drive wheels?

If you incorporate 3 wheels into the segway situation, then you need to consider what happens when one or more wheels looses traction, or starts to 'drift'. Currently, as segway cannot drift with perhaps one notable Italian exception. And even then, only under very particular situations, not under normal driving situations.

We all know what happens now, when one wheel looses traction. It is not particularly pretty.